


The center hole is overgrown (I'm listening face down)

by quietwandering



Category: The Smiths
Genre: M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:41:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26729104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietwandering/pseuds/quietwandering
Summary: Birds sound aroundLike a sudden spell or bellOr orchestrated swells
Relationships: Johnny Marr/Andy Rourke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	The center hole is overgrown (I'm listening face down)

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many other things I should be writing, but I miss B and am just going to be writing about Andy until they get their internet back. 
> 
> Will edit this here in a little bit, just trying to get this up before I get too sleepy. Sorry for any obvious typos. 
> 
> Title is [The Secret of Music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HswhK4OVr1U) by Morrissey

I sat on the couch with my bass in my lap and tried to follow along with the sound of Johnny’s guitar in my headphones, but I just couldn’t find a root note that matched his weird combination of lead and rhythm chords. God, how I wished he could just write a normal song for once - or even just a song without bloody arpeggio notes all over the goddamn place. Rubbing my eyes, I gave up and finally decided to go to the kitchen to call him. 

The phone rang about ten times before he picked up, and an explosion of sound made me reel back from the receiver until a door slammed shut and muffled it a bit. “What the fuck’s all that about then?” 

“Oh, hey, Andy. ‘M at the house with a few mates. Well, they say they’re me mates, I don’t know ‘em, honestly. Guess they decided to set up their gear here and practice. They’re not half bad.” 

“Your house is like a bloody train station,” I groused, but Johnny just busied himself lighting a cigarette, indifferent as always. “I’ll need to meet with you at the studio or summat. I can’t figure out this new riff you gave me.” 

Johnny hummed a bit in thought and plodded around his living room - it was the only one with carpet and his footsteps were quiet - and I listened to shit being knocked about as he searched for an ashtray. He had about a few dozen of them in every room, but he could never remember where he sat them down at. Sighing, I pulled the phone cord over to the hob so I could turn the kettle on while I waited, jamming the phone against my shoulder. 

“Could just come over now. Think my Gibson’s still over there, right?”

“One of ‘em, yeah. Not sure it’s the one you wrote this riff on though,” I replied, searching for a clean mug. “I’ll try and get the gaff cleaned up then. When will you be round?” 

“About an hour, probably. Gotta get these fuckers outta here first then I’ll get Angie to drive me over.” 

We said goodbye to one another, and I took my tea into the living room. There were a bunch of pill bottles and empty bags of heroin on the coffee table, dozens of tipped over beer cans on the floor, and a good two weeks worth of laundry in the corner. I also hadn’t showered in a few days, so I decided I should probably just start there and figure the rest out later.

Thankfully I managed to make the place look presentable by the time there was a knock on the door, and I shouted for Johnny to come in as I went to get the kettle back on. There was the familiar sound of him kicking off his boots in the entryway before he padded into the kitchen, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist.

“I should’ve bloody known,” I mumbled as Johnny kissed at my neck. “I really do need help with that bass line, y'know?” 

“Where’s my Gibson then?” Johnny asked, his cheek resting on my shoulder. I almost wanted to say forget it and drag us both into bed, but I figured we should at least _try_ to work on the song. “Still by the couch?” 

“Uh, I think so.” I paused for a moment to get the tea bags out of the cupboard, putting one into each of the mugs I had sat out. “No, no I sat it in the closet by the TV, sorry.” 

“Alright, I’ll go get that tuned then,” Johnny said breezily, giving me a tight squeeze before he left the room. I made a few sandwiches for us, knowing Johnny would complain he was hungry as soon as we got started, then set everything on a tea tray, a small smile on my face as I heard him start to play. It was always such a magical thing to me.

We sat and worked on the song for a few hours, though Johnny mostly just chatted about this book Mozzer had shown him the other day. Once it was apparent that we weren't getting anything else done, I sat my bass down and rolled a joint as Johnny chatted away about toppling the patriarchy or some such shite. I had just gotten it lit when Johnny pulled a bag out of his pocket and excitedly waved it towards me with a devious glint in his eyes. 

“The blokes that were at me place brought these with them. Thought we might give ‘em a go, eh?” 

I shrugged and took a hit off the joint as Johnny went to make some more tea for us. We’d just eaten a short time ago, which meant the trip might not be as strong, but it’d still be a fun way to pass the time. We’d mostly stuck to acid lately, and I had really missed the more carefree high of shrooms. 

Once we’d dosed, Johnny pulled me into the bedroom and tugged off most of our clothes. We laid on the bed together, side by side, and watched the colors on the ceiling shift around, laughing at anything and everything. I didn’t even really notice when Johnny shifted to lie on top of me, his arms on either side of my shoulders as he mouthed at my neck, but I pushed him away to go stand in the bathroom, where I swore I needed to do something. 

My reflection caught my eye all of a sudden - fuck, was my hair really that blonde? I needed to lay off the peroxide - and Johnny swam into view behind me with a curious look on his face. “What’re you doin’ in here then?” 

“I dunno. Just seemed like the right place to be, I guess.” 

Johnny smiled, at least the mirror said he did, and pressed up on his toes to kiss my hair. He smelled of cloves and cinnamon and like the entirety of the known universe, like the birth of a new nebula in a far off place. I spun around to see if he was really there, thinking that maybe none of this was real, that maybe _I_ wasn't real, holy fuck, but Johnny hadn’t gone anywhere, he was still right behind me with his crooked grin and his big brown eyes and his stupid hair. 

“Y’okay?” Johnny murmured, and I nodded. I was always going to be alright so long as Johnny didn’t leave, and he pulled me back to bed with a sultry look on his face. I laughed and ran my hands across his warm skin and his fragile little bird bones that always dug into me in a painfully nice way. I wanted him more than anything - more than all the money and fame, more than all the drugs in my system. He was a much better high, truth be told, and far more attractive than he had any right to be. 

Johnny kissed me, almost tenderly, and ran his fingers through my hair again and again, mumbling nonsense against my lips. "Was stupid of me, wasn't it? Making you get it cut. Too bloody short now. Miss it, I really miss it. I miss... _you_ , fuck. I miss you all the bloody time. Wish you would never go away."

"'M right here," I whispered, because I was pretty sure I'd not left, not yet anyways. Johnny let out an appreciative sigh and slumped over on me, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his arse was stuck up, his underwear helping give it the illusion of having a slight curve. My cock twitched when an impulse struck me, so vivid in my mind's eye that I wondered if it had already happened.

“Oh, oh _fuck_.” My cock throbbed as I landed a sharp blow on the back of Johnny’s thigh...then another and another - I couldn’t stop myself until he let out a soft sob, trembling against me with his hands clutching my shoulders. I felt out of breath almost, my throat tight like I’d done something horribly wrong, but Johnny just rolled us over and teasingly nipped at my earlobe, giggling to himself. "Why'd you stop then?"

I felt so ready to come just from that alone, but Johnny wriggled away, ducked down to kiss at my chest. I tried to pin Johnny to the bed in frustration, only to feel him start to rub at that spot - the one on my right side that was always so sensitive, like a bundle of nerves was right beneath the skin. I gasped and wrenched up from the bed, my eyes watering as Johnny dug his fingernails into it a few times. It was tortuously good. 

“Yeah? Y’like that, Andy?” I wasn’t sure if I should nod or not, but Johnny had already started to relentlessly push our hips together, his fingers strumming that spot like a guitar string. There was an explosion of purples and oranges in front of my eyes as my balls tightened up, Johnny’s face blurring and sharpening, going in and out of focus, as my orgasm started to get close again. “Y’fuckin’ like me making you come, don’t you? Just like this? C’mon then, wanna see it. Wanna see you come for me, yeah?” 

“ _Fuck_.” 

My insides convulsed and twisted about when Johnny greedily bit into my neck, tugging the skin too hard between his teeth, and I let out a helpless sound as I began to come, soaking my underwear right through. I’d forgotten I’d still had them on, but I wasn’t sure I gave too much of a fuck right then. 

Johnny had somehow gotten his pushed down though and was hurriedly jerking himself off beneath me, his knuckles scraping against my stomach. I lazily rolled us back over and propped him up on my lap, watching his fist move over his cock in a blur. His other hand was shoved way down between his legs, his hips twitching in a telling way every couple of seconds - he was probably rubbing that spot behind his balls, or maybe just teasing his entrance. He said it made him come harder - and with the arc that sprayed out of him, I believed it.

We rolled ourselves into the blankets after a while and found ourselves back to laughing at nothing. Johnny was orating an entire love story about two wayward souls who met in the back of lorry one day and found themselves nicking grandmothers to survive. I pulled him into my arms to get him to shush but soon found myself too invested in the story to make him stop. 

“Really, it all went wrong when they started to build a boat, as there weren’t any grandmothers out in the ocean - nor any grandfathers. They really should have known better, but love can blind you sometimes, y’know?” 

“Yeah, I can imagine,” I mumbled, my face pressed into his hair to breathe in the rich scent of his shampoo. “D’you think we’ll ever build a boat?”

“Oh, I’m sure of it. We love each other, too, after all.” I laughed and hugged him closer to me, mumbling for him to not to be so daft, but Johnny just smiled up at me and pressed a soft kiss against my cheek, happily wriggling our toes together. “Bloody love you more than anything in the whole, wide world, yeah? Best mates forever, you and me.”

"Best mates forever," I echoed, laughing again. "Till the end." 


End file.
